


What Now?

by grumpyphoenix



Series: Brain Salad [32]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27627188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyphoenix/pseuds/grumpyphoenix
Summary: They're free.Now what?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: Brain Salad [32]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1055951
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	What Now?

**Author's Note:**

> It's midnight, I'm flying on painkillers, not beta read. Timer went on, I wrote, timer went off. I stopped.

They shut down the bunker, at least for a little while. They take the car and drive across the country in a random direction. Relearning the feel of the world under their tires. They stop on the side of a highway that’s winding its way through mountains and eat at a picnic table, looking out over the scenery. 

Dean marvels at the feeling of the sun warming the wood. It even has splinters. Sam’s okay already, watching his brother with a long practiced worried stare, but Dean just can’t shake the feeling of unreality. A family in camper stops here too, and he suddenly has to go before he can watch them pile out and set up a picnic. A mom and dad, and their kids, picture perfect. TV Perfect.

They lose an entire day once they get through the mountains to a small town in New York, not even an hour’s drive from where they met Sarah, so long ago. Dean spends most of it in a playground, watching the kids play. The next morning Sam finds broken glass that Dean had tracked in late at night. He’d broken in just to see if the people here had homes. If their lives were real. 

Driving through fields of corn, headed back towards the other side of the country, Dean starts to smile again. They start talking, but it isn’t about hardship for once. Sometimes they reminisce, but mostly it’s just about nothing. Anything. They see a movie, something that leaves them both breathless with laughter and feeling heartburn from too much popcorn.

They go to a football game when they stop in a college town, and get pizza in a local joint. The cheese is hot and runny. Sam burns his mouth a little, rolling his eyes when Dean laughs at him. 

One morning as they’re packing up the car, their eyes meet. Sam can see his thoughts mirrored in Dean’s gaze. Though they’d meant to stay out here longer, Dean takes a different turn on the highway and they head back to Kansas. 

It’s a long time to ruminate on an unspoken idea, but they have a lot of practice handling heavy silences. 

Castiel is outside the bunker when they pull up. He’s wearing a heavy plaid jacket against the cool rain, and a week’s growth of beard. He looks impatient, and cold. He looks  _ alive _ . Jack did it, he pulled through for them.

“You took your sweet time. I was going to leave.” He grumbles, trying to look grouchy. His eyes are bright, fixated on Dean. He’s brazening it out, not backing down from the unspoken words lying heavy between them both. 

Dean just smiles. “No you weren’t. You’re not leaving ever again.”

“There’s no more...Jack didn’t want people to suffer. He wanted me to tell you that.”

Sam barks out a short laugh. “No more monsters, you mean. I knew it. Everywhere we went, everyone’s lives were just… normal.”

“ No monsters. No angels, no demons, heaven or hell. He’s reorganizing.” Castiel rubs the palms of his hands on his jeans, nerves finally winning. Neither man has looked away even once. Sam’s not sure if they’re even blinking.

“Well, then.” Sam throws his arm around his brother’s shoulder on one side and walks him over to Castiel. “We’re out of a job. I’m going to go inside and make some coffee. I think you both have something to talk about. And after that, we can figure out what we’re going to do with the rest of our lives.” 

The way his brother is looking at Cas, Sam figures he might not see either of them till tomorrow. 

For the first time in his entire life, that doesn’t really matter. They’re free. They have all the time in the world.


End file.
